Lateness - The Aftermath
by ChocolateChipCookie29
Summary: One shot. This one shot takes place at the end of the episode Lateness. How I wished the episode had ended. Enjoy! :)


Ray Barone had been sitting upstairs, alone, all night, holding a football themed bouquet, waiting on his wife, Debra, to come up and scream at him and call him idiot. He should have known. Should have known that she would be furious for leaving without her. At first, Ray thought he was doing the right thing. They had an agreement, after all, and she didn't keep her end of the deal. Ray had no idea that Debra's curling iron got stuck in her hair, for had he known that, he wouldn't have gotten so upset. Ray would have yelled up the stairs to hurry up, but part of the agreement was that he would not yell up the stairs, and she would be on time. They shook on it. Debra was supposed to be in the car at 6:30, and when she wasn't on time, again, Ray knew that she didn't care about his feelings. While at the party, he realized that it was wrong to leave without her, and knew that she would tear him a new one once he got home.

Finally, after about five hours of sitting upstairs in misery, Ray decided to stop being a coward and stand up to Debra. Yes, he was wrong to leave without her, but he wasn't one hundred percent at fault. Ray had been cowering for a few hours, and finally mustered up his courage, and decided to tell Debra how she made him feel. He threw the football bouquet down on the floor and marched downstairs to find Debra passed out on the couch. The way she was sleeping looked pretty uncomfortable.

"Deb," he whispered, stroking her shoulder.

"Mmm," she mumbled in her sleep.

"Wake up, Deb, we need to talk."

Debra snorted and finally opened her eyes. "What time is it," she asked with a yawn.

Ray looked at his watch. "It's two in the morning."

"Oh."

"Listen, we need to talk."

Debra nodded and stretched her arms. "You're right, we do."

"Okay, before you start yelling at me and calling me names, please listen to my side. I tried to explain when I came home, but I didn't do a very good job."

Debra nodded her head and let Ray speak first.

"I was in the car, waiting for you. I was very anxious about the awards ceremony, and when you didn't come down on time, it made me think that you really didn't care about how I felt. I just got upset and I left because I was tired of always having to wait. If you were late just one or two times, that would be one thing, but it's all the time. I didn't know why you were late, and I didn't check on you because you told me not to. When I was there, I realized that leaving without you was wrong, and I'm sorry. I just hate having to wait all the time."

There was a pause. Ray was waiting for the tongue lashing he was sure to get. He loved his wife very much, but she had a very nasty temper. A lot of people would say to him how lucky he was to have Debra, and a lot of other people would ask him how he puts up with someone that treats him like crap? Ray would say he's far from perfect. They were just opposite. She screamed out her frustrations, and Ray would either just sigh and walk away, or not say anything at all.

After what seemed like hours, Debra finally spoke.

"You're right, Ray."

"What?"

"You're right. After I watched TV and cooled down a little bit I thought about your side of things. I would have been on time. I had three minutes to spare, and I would at been in the car at the right time, and I thought it would just take a quick second to curl a part of my hair, but it got stuck. I was just trying to look nice for the awards show, I wasn't doing it because I didn't care about you. I was both hurt and angry that you left without me. My revenge was to make you wait upstairs all night for me while I stayed on the couch. I know I can be hard to live with sometimes, but I really don't mean to be. I shouldn't have been so vain about my appearance, because I looked fine. I'm sorry, too."

This Ray was not expecting. He was expecting Debra to lash out at him, call him an idiot, say how inconsiderate he was, etc. But she didn't. She apologized, too. Ray smiled.

"So you're not mad at me?"

"I was, but not anymore. Let's make a new deal. I agree to be on time from now on, and you agree to not leave without me even if I do run a couple of minutes late."

"Deal."

They shook hands. Before heading upstairs to bed, Ray helped Debra get the curling iron out of her hair. It was stuck pretty good. Amy had offered to help her get it out, but Debra purposely wanted it to be left in, to show Ray why she was late.

Once the curling iron was out, they got into their pajamas and climbed into bed.

"Good night, Deb."

"Good night, Ray."

They kissed. "And Deb, I really am sorry."

Debra smiled and squeezed Ray's hand in reassurance. "Me, too."

THE END


End file.
